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It’s hard to believe, but it has been nearly five years since Danielle Bregoli’s appearance on Phil McGraw’s Emmy-nominated syndicated daytime talk show, Dr. Phil. Her episode (titled “I Want to Give Up My Car-Stealing, Knife-Wielding, Twerking 13-Year-Old Daughter Who Tried to Frame Me for a Crime”) aired in September 2016, and since then, her viral catchphrase “Catch me outside, how about that?”moment has come and gone, but she has somehow managed to outlive it. She has expanded her 15 minutes of fame by staying relevant in the public eye, via her popular YouTube page and by turning her infamy into a rap career. After becoming an internet sensation and getting signed to Atlantic Records as rapper Bhad Bhabie, Bregoli is now revisiting a negative experience she went through after her appearance on Dr. Phil.
Her mother sent her away to Turn-About Ranch in Utah, which McGraw recommended, because of her problematic behavior. The ranch is a facility for “troubled teens” and became popular among the other 100 facilities operating in the state because of how often it appeared on the Dr. Phil show. Now that she is 18 and inspired by other people telling their stories, Bregoli is breaking her silence on the alleged abuse she endured and witnessed at Turn-About. She shared a YouTube video sharing details about her time there earlier this year, while also demanding an apology from the TV host for his involvement with the ranch. Check out what’s been happening behind the scenes since Bhad Bhabie appeared on Dr. Phil in 2016.
Bhad Bhabie's mom took her to ‘Dr. Phil’ because of behavioral issues
When:Sep. 14, 2016
Barbara Bregoli was at her wit’s end when she took her teenage daughter to Los Angeles, California from Florida, to seek help and advice from the TV host. Dr. Phil was known to feature teenagers as part of the show’s psychology-driven segment focused on rebellious children and often sent them to a facility to help with their behavior. After sitting down with the mother-daughter duo, McGraw determined that the reason behind the girl’s anger and violent behavior at home could have stemmed from her mom having cancer twice and her estranged relationship with her father, a deputy at the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office.
Her exchange with the audience went viral
When: Sep. 14, 2016
The talk show host interviewed Bregoli, asking her questions about her behavior, why she acted out at home, why she stole cars, and why she spoke using that accent, which she said she adopted from “the streets.” At one point, people in the audience laughed, and she challenged them tofight her outside if they wanted to confront her. “And all these hoes laughing like it’s so funny,” she said. “Catch me outside, how about that?” She also threatened to fight her mother while on the show. At the end of the episode, she was transported to the ranch despite her obvious refusal to go.
The meme she inspired took on a life of its own
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When: September 2016
Fans on social media turned the viral video clip into GIFs and memes and applied the phrase to real-life situations. The catchphrase soon took on a life of its own and it was hard to escape. It became such a pop culture moment, that some people began using the phrase in their day-to-day lives. Some churches also got in on the joke at the time, using the phrase to promote church attendance. “Cash God inside, howbow dah?” one church reportedly posted. Even five years later, despite her rap career and having more than 17 million Instagram followers, she is still widely known as the “Cash me outside” girl.
She returned to the show following her stint at the ranch
When:Feb. 10, 2017
Bregoli returned to Dr. Phil in an episode that aired in February 2017, but without a studio audience,and they discussed her time at the ranch. She said her time there was “fine,” and that she agreed that she was glad she went. They also talked about her newfound viral fame since the first episode aired, and she said she was being bullied on Instagram and social media. McGraw asked her if the attention she was receiving was positive or negative, and she said: “Both. I guess what’s good for you is I made you just how Oprah made you. You were nothing before I came on this show.” Bregoli said she would continue pursuing opportunities with her Internet fame and was then prompted by her mom to thank the TV host for allowing her the chance to go to the ranch.
She said she was unaware that she had become a meme
When:Dec. 18, 2017
After she returned from the ranch, she quickly realized her episode on the show had caught people’s attention and that she was now famous. She didn’t have access to social media or a cell phone while in Utah and came home to people recognizing her on the street—and said she hated the catchphrase. “When that meme blew up, I didn’t know. I had just gotten home and I hadn’t been on social media for months. I hadn’t even seen a phone for months. I didn’t even know how to say the word ‘meme.’ At first I didn’t know how to handle it,” she told FADER in December 2018.“My instinct was to cuss everyone out who said it to me. Every fan that would come to me and say, ‘Can I take a picture with you?’ I’d say, ‘f*ck you, why the f*ck do you want to take a picture of me? I don’t even know who the f*ck you are and you’re coming up taking a picture of me, saying this wack ass sh*t to me? But now I’m like, OK,” she said. “Soon as I realized, OK, I’m famous. I wasn’t big-headed about it, I was just like, I gotta be sorta respectful.”
Bhad Bhabie said she hates the 'Cash Me Ousside' meme
When:March23, 2021
Bhabie released a 4-minute long videoon her YouTube in March denouncing the “cash me outside” meme and catchphrase that launched her into stardom.“My problem with the meme was always that people only got to see half the story,” she said. “For years I didn’t even want to talk about it. People would say it and I would just be like, ‘Okay yeah, whatever.’’’She then took aim at Dr. Phil and how she was treated on the show. “Who made the rule that just because you’re older than them you get to treat them with no respect at all,” Bhabie said after claiming the show’s production changed some of her responses to make her seem more unlikable. “I’m still a human being you have to have some sort of respect for me.” The rapper did say that she is famous thanks to the video but she wishes people knew that’s notall she is.“That meme made it seem like I was an evil, hateful girl,” she said. “That’s why I hate it so much because that’s not me… Y’all can’t judge somebody’s whole life off of a 30-second clip… I always wanted people to know me for me.”
Bhad Bhabie shared a video demanding an apology from Dr. Phil
When:March 19, 2021
Bregoli revealed that she was inspired to share her story after a woman named Hannah Archuleta came forward in February 2021, saying that she was sexually assaulted by a staff member at the facility after she appeared on the show in 2019 when she was 17. In March, the rapper shared an 8-minute long video where she broke her silence about the abuse she experienced and witnessed at the Turn-About Ranch she was sent to for six months after her appearance on Dr. Phil when she was 13.
“Dr. Phil, I’m going to give you from now until April 5 to issue an apology not only to me but to Hannah and any other child that you sent to Turn-About or any other program like this, and if you don’t I’m going to handle things my way,” Bregoli said. She added that she doesn’t believe that Dr. Phil doesn’t know what really happens behind closed doors at the ranch, but that he continues to send kids there. “I’m really not sure why Dr. Phil still sends kids here, it really doesn’t make sense. Are you trying to help them or hurt them even more? We all know he’s a phony as it is but don’t be sending kids somewhere just to make it look like you’re trying to do something.”
She opened up about abuse minors endure at Turn-About Ranch
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When:March 19, 2021
Bregoli shared a detailed account of what her experience at the camp was like. She said that kids experience mistreatment from the staff, malnourishment, and mental and physical abuse while they are there. She said that during the first few days the staff doesn’t allow the children to shower or sleep, and took away “necessities” like sleeping on a bed, eating good food and heat. Bregoli said the staff violated the camp’s rules, like putting their hands on the children to hold them down, and forcing them to do strenuous chores as part of their punishments, like picking up horse manure. Whenever she or someone else reported some sort of mistreatment, instead of being helped, they would be punished for speaking out.
She said she didn’t publicly come forward earlier because she was afraid she wouldn’t be believed. “It’s our word against the staff’s word when you’re there because there are no witnesses, there’s no cameras, you don’t have a phone, there’s none of that,” the rapper said. “That’s why I was always so afraid to speak out because it was like, ‘Nobody is going to believe me.’ A lot of the things that happened to me there hurt me so bad because I was genuinely confused.”
She also added: “What parents need to understand is that if your child is acting out because of trauma, like sexual abuse or maybe the kid’s parents got divorced, or anything like that you don’t send your kid to a program like this. You need to send your kid to a program where they’re not being punished and everything is not about being in trouble.”
When: March 19, 2021
She also says she was at the camp when one of the kids killed one of the staff members while trying to steal a car to get away, but said the other children weren’t offered any kind of emotional support after witnessing the tragedy. It was reported at the time that on Dec. 6, 2016, Clay Brewer brutally beat to death a 61-year-old staff member named Jimmy Woolsey with a metal bar. Woolsey’s widow, Brenda Woolsey, filed a lawsuit claiming that Brewer should not have been allowed at the ranch and that it wasn’t the proper place to treat him as a teenager who was both “addicted to drugs and suicidal” at the time.
Dr. Phil responds to the allegations
When: March 22, 2021
Following Bregoli’s allegations, Dr. Philappeared on Ashleigh Banfield’s NewsNation Prime show Banfield in late March and addressed the abuse allegations at Turn-About Ranch. The TV host didn’t apologize or accept any blame for what the rapper says she experienced, saying it was out of his hands. “She went to Turn-About four or five years ago, and she had a bad experience. Obviously, I would hate that, we’d be sorry about that. But we don’t have anything to do with what happens with guests once they leave the stage. That’s between the guardian and the parent and whatever facility they go to. So we’re not involved in that, we don’t have any feedback from them, so whatever happens once they are there, that’s between them and the facility. I would assume if she had a problem, she would file a complaint with the proper authorities five years ago. I really don’t know much about it.”
The journalist then went on to talk about the rapper’s behavior when she was a child, saying that you “can’t coddle kids like that” and said that tough love is often needed. “Every situation is different and there are a lot of these children, teenagers, and adolescents that my approach has been, I don’t ask myself why you are the way that you are, I ask myself, ‘Why not?’” Dr. Phil said. “You have to look at each case separately. Some of them were raised in a lot of chaos and a lot of turmoil and they do what they have to survive, but you still have to protect them from themselves.”
Bhad Bhabie talked about the allegations in an interview
When:March 26, 2021
Following her 18th birthday celebration in late March, she caught up with Hollywood Life and shared her thoughts on the TV personality’s interview. “He said that he doesn’t know what goes on after you leave. He said it’s not his problem. How do you send multiple minors in a facility in Utah in the middle of nowhere and you don’t follow up on them? He damn well had to do a follow-up on me because my program got extended. I was there for six months instead of 100 days. And he’s the one who approved me being there for six months instead of 100 days. So how is it not your responsibility but you’re still checking up?” she said. “He just don’t want to take accountability for it because there’s some type of scheme going on where every time he sends a child over there, something goes in his favor. I don’t know if he gets money or if it gets him good publicity.”
The rapper responded to Dr. Phil’s interview
When:April 7, 2021
Bregoli shared a second YouTube video and said that since her first video, she has received plenty of messages from people who experienced the same sort of mistreatment when they were at the ranch. She also addressed McGraw’s appearance on Banfield, criticizing the way the news show host handled the interview. She even called out McGraw for still having the ranch listed on his website.
“He just said he’s not involved in any facility I go to,” Bregoli said. “Are you f*cking nuts? Are you actually f*cking nuts? I’m really trying to keep my composure but these two aren’t making it easy. My mother signed a consent of release of information to send progress reports directly from Turn-About to the Dr. Phil show. So when you say you don’t have any f*cking feedback from them, that is not true. So if you’re saying you don’t have any feedback, maybe you should be getting feedback about these places before you’re just sending multiple people’s f*cking kids here. You’re just trying to save your ass but there’s too many stories and too many people behind this that you can’t save your ass anymore.
“You’re also saying that when I was 13 I should have known how to file a complaint about a program,” Bregoli continued. “The only thing that made me comfortable was Hannah speaking out, so I’m going to talk about it now. Someone has to have her back.”
Bhad Bhabie is teaming up with Paris Hilton
Image via Getty
When: April 8, 2021
Paris Hilton revealed in her This Is Paris YouTube documentary last year that she was abused at another Utah facility called Provo Canyon School. Hilton has since become an advocate to reform the “troubled-teen” industry and even flew Utah to testify in favor of legislation that would bring more oversight to the facilities there. Hilton is now teaming up with Bregoli over the issue of alleged abuse at these teen camps.
TMZ reported that the pair have been in contact about working together to spread more awareness for Breaking Code Silence. BCS is an organization that advocates for survivors of abuse from these types of facilities. Sources said that they first connected after Hilton saw the rapper’s video about her alleged Turn-About experiences. “I support all survivors who share their personal experiences within the Troubled Teen Industry, and I am proud of Danielle for using her voice and her platform. It is wonderful to see more public voices take on this Industry,” she told TMZ. “People look up to Dr. Phil, and I want to make sure the show is accurately portraying these residential facilities to desperate families and not continuing to spread the false narrative that these places heal kids.”
